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Ghana World Cup Preview
Ghana was a surprise quarterfinalist in the last World Cup, but getting back there is going to be very hard this summer since they are playing in the Group of Death. They have long shot betting odds to win the World Cup and the 3rd worst odds to win their killer group. Still, they have a strong midfield with some world-class talent and their offense averaged over 3 goals per match in qualifying.
Ghana is in Group G along with Germany, Portugal, and USA. They face the Americans in their first match and they may need to take 3 points away from it to have any chance to advance out of the group stage. In an interesting fact Ghana has ousted the Yanks from the last 2 World Cups. They then face Germany where they are big betting underdogs and then end the group stage by playing Portugal. Both of those matches are killer ones with Germany being a loaded squad and Portugal having, arguably, the best FW in the world in Cristiano Ronaldo.
BETTING ODDS
Odds to win World Cup: +25000
Odds to win Group: +1200
Odds to finish bottom of group: +120
Best World Cup Finish: Quarterfinals (2010)
World Cup Match Schedule
16/6/14 Ghana vs. United States – Estadio das Dunas
21/6/14 Germany vs. Ghana – Estadio Castelão
26/6/14 Portugal vs. Ghana – Nacional
Qualifying
Ghana won their African qualifying group and then they won 7-3 in aggregate beating a solid squad from Egypt. In the first leg of the playoff tie they blew up on offense and beat Egypt 6-1 to, pretty much, punch their ticket to Brazil. While they were solid against Egypt they were not impressive in winning one of the weaker groups. Their record in qualifying was 6-3-1 and after a slow start they won 5 straight matches before losing their last one to Egypt, but were already so far ahead after the first leg that loss did not matter.
Strengths and Weaknesses
The midfield is definitely the strength of the squad with the likes of Kwadwo Asamoah, Michael Essien, and Kevin-Prince Boateng, who all play in big leagues in Europe. The defense is not a great one and they do not have a world-class striker. One concern is that they are not a good team when they give up the lead, as in qualifying they did not got 1 point when they were down.
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